While social or companion robots may sound like something one would only see in a science-fiction movie, conversational AI bots are becoming the norm in Asia, and are beginning to be commonplace even in the United States. Microsoft’s Xiaoice, for instance, has 660 million users in China, and recently had a valuation of $1 billion dollars. The Xiaoice chatbot is included in 450 million smart devices, and according to the Xiaoice company, which split off from Microsoft in 2020, 60% of all worldwide AI-human interactions are conducted via Xiaoice technology.
The Rise of the Companion AI
Many enterprise businesses use AI chatbots for customer service and product inquiries, but for millions of users today, the AI chatbot is seen as a romantic partner or companion. Likened to the AI-character Samantha in the 2013 movie Her, Xiaoice is not the only AI entity in the conversational AI space. Azuma Hikari is billed by the Japanese-based Gatebox company as “your personal bride,” and social chatbot Replika is touted by the San Francisco-based Luka company as “the AI companion that cares.”
A February 2021 report by Making Caring Common and Harvard University revealed that 36% of those polled indicated that they have felt lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or all the time” in the prior four weeks, up from the 25% that said they were experiencing serious issues in the two months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most surprising was that 61% of those aged 18 to 25 reported high levels of loneliness. 2020 and 2021 brought with them not just the COVID crisis, but also what many are referring to as the Loneliness Pandemic, something the creators of companion bots hope to both capitalize on and help to improve.
Continue reading: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/are-conversational-ai-companions-the-next-big-thing/
The Rise of the Companion AI
Many enterprise businesses use AI chatbots for customer service and product inquiries, but for millions of users today, the AI chatbot is seen as a romantic partner or companion. Likened to the AI-character Samantha in the 2013 movie Her, Xiaoice is not the only AI entity in the conversational AI space. Azuma Hikari is billed by the Japanese-based Gatebox company as “your personal bride,” and social chatbot Replika is touted by the San Francisco-based Luka company as “the AI companion that cares.”
A February 2021 report by Making Caring Common and Harvard University revealed that 36% of those polled indicated that they have felt lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or all the time” in the prior four weeks, up from the 25% that said they were experiencing serious issues in the two months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most surprising was that 61% of those aged 18 to 25 reported high levels of loneliness. 2020 and 2021 brought with them not just the COVID crisis, but also what many are referring to as the Loneliness Pandemic, something the creators of companion bots hope to both capitalize on and help to improve.
Continue reading: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/are-conversational-ai-companions-the-next-big-thing/
